Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger ( Leutheusser; born 26 July 1951) is a German politician of the liberal Free Democratic Party and a prominent advocate of human rights in Germany and Europe.Germany’s Justice Minister Hails Three European Courts as "Shining Stars" Columbia Law School, press release of 2 December 2011. Within the FDP, she is a leading figure of the social-liberal wing. She served as Federal Minister of Justice of Germany from 1992 to 1996 in the cabinet of Helmut Kohl and again in the second Merkel cabinet from 2009 to 2013. In 2013, the new German government announced Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger's candidacy for the office of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.Stefan Braun (26 November 2013), Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger kandidiert für Posten beim Europarat Süddeutsche Zeitung.Juncker seen as possible candidate for Council of Europe post EurActiv, 19 July 2013.
Early life and work
Sabine Leutheusser was born in Minden, North Rhine-Westphalia. After graduating from gymnasium in Minden in 1970, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger started studying law in Göttingen and Bielefeld.
In 1975, she passed the first state exam in Hamm, in 1978 the second state exam in Düsseldorf. From 1979 to 1990, she worked at the Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt in Munich, eventually as managing director. In addition to her mandate as a member of the German parliament (Bundestag), she worked as a lawyer in Munich since 1997.
Political career In 1978 Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger became a member of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). Since 1991 she has been a member of federal board of the FDP.
Member of the Bundestag and Federal Minister of Justice, 1992–96 From 12 December 1990 Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger was a member of the German Bundestag. On 18 May 1992 she was sworn in as Federal Minister of Justice of Germany, following the nomination of incumbent Klaus Kinkel as Foreign Minister in the government of Chancellor Helmut Kohl. She had previously won an internal vote against Burkhard Hirsch and became the first woman to hold this office.Normal und praktisch Der Spiegel, 11 May 1992.
Upon taking office, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger pushed for police receiving new training and equipment to counter extremism and tougher court sentences for those found guilty of extremist violence.Tyler Marshall (25 November 1992), Bonn Moving to Get Tough on Violence Los Angeles Times.
In 1994, she publicly condemned a regional court for adulating radical rightist leader Günter Deckert after handing him a light sentence for Holocaust denial, calling the judges’ decision "a slap in the face to all victims of the Holocaust".Marjorie Miller (11 August 1994), German Court Chastised for Giving Extremist Slap on Wrist Los Angeles Times. When Denmark agreed to extradite Gary Lauck, an American neo-Nazi charged with being the main supplier of illegal fascist propaganda to German authorities in 1995, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger called the decision a "great victory against right-wing extremism."VICTORY IN EUROPE: Denmark Decides to Extradite American Neo-Nazi to Germany Los Angeles Times, 9 May 1995.
In 1995 there was a broad public discussion in Germany about the invulnerability of the private domain by means of acoustic observation (Großer Lauschangriff, literally "big eavesdropping attack").Presentation with Germany's Federal Minister of Justice, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, 3 November 2011 Columbia University, New York. In this argument Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger strongly objected to expanding the state's right to interfere in citizens' private domain. After the members of the FDP decided in a poll to support the conservative lead of the CDU in this matter, she resigned from her office on 1 January 1996.https://www.tagesschau.de/aktuell/meldungen/0,1185,OID3037054_TYP1_NAVSPM2~3036854_REF1,00.html Zehn Jahre Diskussion um den Großen Lauschangriff
From May 1997 Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger was a member of the Steering Committee of the FDP ("Präsidium"). On 2 December 2000 she also became FDP chairwoman for the Federal State of Bavaria. She served twice as Deputy Chairwoman of the FDP parliamentary group, from 2 February 2001 to 2 October 2002 and from 27 September 2005 until 28 October 2009.
Member of the Bundestag and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, 1996–2009 Following her time in government, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger sharpened her profile as deputy parliamentary leader of the FDP and high-profile civil rights campaigner.Oliver Samson (23 August 2006), Striking the Right Balance Between Freedom and Security Deutsche Welle. From 1999 to 2000 she was a member of an international inquiry commission of the United Nations to examine allegations of human rights violations in East Timor and submitted its report to secretary general Kofi Annan. UN probes Timor rights abuses BBC News, 15 October 1999.
During the 16th Legislative Term of the Bundestag between 2005 and 2009, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger was spokeswoman on legal policy for the FDP parliamentary group, chairwoman of the FDP in the parliamentary committee on legal affairs and alternate member in the parliamentary Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid. From 2009, she also served on the parliamentary body in charge of selecting the judges of the Highest Courts of Justice, namely the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), the Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG), the Federal Fiscal Court (BFH), the Federal Labour Court (BAG), and the Federal Social Court (BSG).
Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger was also active in the Council of Europe. From 2003 to 2009 she was member of the German delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. As member of the Council of Europe's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, she conducted an investigative trip to Russia and authored a critical report on the country's judicial system.Erin E. Arvedlund (29 March 2005), Critics Say a Jailed Yukos Lawyer Is a 'Hostage' New York Times. In 2008, she presented a report to the Parliamentary Assembly on the investigation of the Gongadze case and other crimes of the Kuchma era in Ukraine. Titled Allegations of Politically Motivated Abuses of the Criminal Justice System in Council of Europe Member States, her 2009 report examined alleged abuses in Britain, Germany, France, and Russia.Philip Pan (24 June 2009), European Investigator Alleges Widespread Corruption in Russian Courts Washington Post. Much of the document focused on Russia, detailing several recent cases that "give rise to concerns that the fight against 'legal nihilism' launched by President Medvedev is still far from won."Jason Bush (24 June 2009), Report Slams Moscow: No Justice for Business in Russia Der Spiegel. During an April 2009 visit to Ukraine, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, co-rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, cautiously encouraged reform of the parliamentary system in Ukraine. She also expressed regret that those who ordered Georgiy Gongadze's murder had still not been brought to justice.World Report 2009: Ukraine Human Rights Watch.
In 2008, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger – in her role as chairwoman of the FDP in Bavaria – successfully ran the party's election campaign in the Bavarian state elections that year, where the FDP reentered the state parliament after 14 years of absence.
Federal Minister of Justice, 2009–13 In the negotiations to form a coalition government of the FDP and the Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) following the 2009 federal elections, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger led the FDP delegation in the working group on internal and legal affairs; her counterpart of the CDU/CSU was Wolfgang Schäuble.
Between 2009 and 2013, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger served as Federal Minister of Justice again, this time in the second Merkel cabinet. Alongside four men, she was the only female FDP member in Merkel's cabinetMarcel Fürstenau (3 May 2013), Liberal Free Democrats set to launch election offensive Deutsche Welle. and the only FDP member of the cabinet to have previously held government office.German FDP plumbs new lows after attack on leader Reuters, 29 May 2010. During her time in office, she would often push the FDP's pro-civil liberties agenda, but frequently encountered resistance from a conservatives-controlled interior ministry led by Thomas de Maizière and later Hans-Peter Friedrich.Chris Bryant (28 September 2009), FDP leader tipped as foreign minister Financial Times.
In 2010, former president of the Federal Constitutional Court Jutta Limbach in an interview proposed that Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger be made a judge at the court, praising her "intellectual honesty";Heribert Prantl (17 May 2010), Interview mit Jutta Limbach: "Weil sie dem Rechtsstaat Ehre macht" Süddeutsche Zeitung. instead, Andreas Voßkuhle was nominated by the SPD.
In 2011, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger became one of the first prominent Free Democratic politicians to suggest a change in the party's top leadership. She recommended that the incumbent Guido Westerwelle be replaced by Christian Lindner, then the party's general secretary.Judy Dempsey (3 January 2011), Coalition Partner Becomes Liability for Merkel Government International Herald Tribune.
Ahead of the 2013 elections, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger was elected to lead her party's campaign in the state of Bavaria.Mike Szymanski (17 November 2012), Parteitag der Bayern FDP: Gerangel um den Listenplatz Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Candidacy for Secretary General of the Council of Europe, 2013–14
In 2013, the new German government announced Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger's candidacy for the office of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.Stefan Braun (26 November 2013), Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger kandidiert für Posten beim Europarat Süddeutsche Zeitung.Juncker seen as possible candidate for Council of Europe post EurActiv, 19 July 2013. From December 2013, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger visited more than 20 member states.
In the first round of the election on 24 June 2014, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger lost against incumbent Thorbjørn Jagland who obtained an absolute majority.Thorbjørn Jagland re-elected Secretary General of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, 24 June 2014.
Later career Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger continues to be a frequent commentator on human rights and data protection in German media. In 2014, she was appointed to an advisory council established by Google on implementing the right to be forgotten.Jemima Kiss (11 July 2014), Google launches 'advisory council' page on right to be forgotten The Guardian.
From 2014 to 2026, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger was a member of the executive board of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.Feierliche Verabschiedung von Karl-Heinz Paqué, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, Anne Brasseur Friedrich Naumann Foundation, 27 March 2026. In 2018, she was also appointed to the honorary office of State Commissioner for the Fight against Anti-Semitism in the government of Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia Armin Laschet.Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger wird Antisemitismus-Beauftragte in NRW Westdeutscher Rundfunk, 6 November 2018.
Political views On crime and prosecutions Soon after taking office in 2009, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger demanded that US courts could not seek the death penalty for terrorists Zacarias Moussaoui and Ramzi Binalshibh in return for receiving evidence provided by German investigators. In order to verify that the US government keeps its word, she teamed up with the Foreign Ministry to send German observers to monitor the trial in New York.John Goetz and Marcel Rosenbach (23 November 2009), The Death Penalty Problem: 9/11 Trial Puts German-US Relations Under Strain Der Spiegel.